Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 17:24:04 +0930 From: Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> To: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> Cc: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>, pgreen <polytarp@m-net.arbornet.org>, Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Language in danger: Language loss Message-ID: <20020529172404.X82424@wantadilla.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <p05111701b917c51e8100@[137.120.142.179]> References: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0205261919370.49175-100000@m-net.arbornet.org> <3CF17486.F06F3E6A@mindspring.com> <20020527104558.B43610@wantadilla.lemis.com> <p05111701b917c51e8100@[137.120.142.179]>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Monday, 27 May 2002 at 13:14:14 +0200, Brad Knowles wrote: > At 10:45 AM +0930 2002/05/27, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote: > >> Imagine you're driving down a crowded freeway and a car in front of >> you suddenly stops. You have to avoid it. How do you do it? "Well, >> if I veer to the left, I may hit the gravel on the side of the road, >> if I veer to the right, I may hit the central reservation, but there's >> not enough space between the lanes for me to get through, so maybe the >> gravel's the least risk"? Of course not. Putting thoughts into >> language is too slow for your own thoughts. > > I would argue that this issue is handled largely by reflex, with > relatively little conscious thought. What conscious thought has gone > into this process happened before the situation began, so your reflex > is going to be guided by your memory of the overall situation > immediately before the unexpected occurrence. Maybe we have a difference of terminology here. There's a difference between this kind of "reflex" and the kind of reflex which makes your leg kick when you're hit on the knee. I suspect what I call thinking is what you call reflex, and what you call "conscious thought" is really formulating your thoughts in language. A corollary to this is: if the languages you speak don't have any words to express a thought, can you think it? Greg -- See complete headers for address and phone numbers To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20020529172404.X82424>